Connecting to Figure Out How to Teach ESOL: A Grounded Theory
Presented by Dr Julie Bytheway, University of the Sunshine Coast
Abstract:
What can we learn from people who taught themselves how to teach ESOL? This PhD research explored how teachers who started teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) in post-secondary education without teaching or applied linguistics qualifications or prior teaching experience figured out how to teach. Grounded theory was used to explore the social context and guide cyclic, flexible research processes. Seven participants shared their perspectives during semi-structured interviews. Constant comparative analysis was used to identify properties, concepts, categories, a basic social process, and a grounded theory. The substantive grounded theory of Connecting to Figure Out How to Teach ESOL explains how teachers who started teaching ESOL in post-secondary education without teaching or applied linguistics qualifications or prior teaching experience discovered and determined how to teach ESOL. Connecting to Figure Out How to Teach ESOL is an informal and holistic learning process that includes four interdependent and interconnecting parts: becoming (a) Willing by initially acknowledging not-knowing how to teach and taking responsibility for students’ learning; (b) Reflecting by recalling learning experiences, and evaluating language, learning and teaching; (c) Engaging by building relationships with students, collaborating with teachers, and using learning resources; and (d) Adapting by engaging in interconnected cycles of monitoring students’ responses, determining students’ wants and needs, and experimenting with teaching.
References: https://research.usc.edu.au/esploro/outputs/doctoral/Connecting-to-Figure-Out-How-to/99549706202621
About the author: Dr Julie Bytheway is an experienced teacher educator and team leader. Julie completed her PhD in Education (TESOL) at the University of the Sunshine Coast in 2021. She has studied and worked in secondary schools, polytechnics and universities in New Zealand, Australia, and Europe. She is currently Head of Department - Learner Services at NMIT. Her strengths are building positive team cultures, co-designing learning with learners, empowering autonomous learning, creating transparent and flexible processes, and collaborating with diverse stakeholders. Julie’s research interests are teachers’ learning, adult learning, autonomous learning, workplace learning, online learning, language learning and the use of grounded theory.